Our Family Blog

Does this make me a soccer mom?

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:55:01 -0500

I’m sitting on the soccer field (aka retention pond) in our neighborhood at 8am on a Saturday morning having driven here with my 6 year old son in our white minivan. When did this happen? I’m a soccer mom. What does that mean exactly? Why do I think it has a bad connotation? Recently, someone made a semi-negative comment about the women in our neighborhood. It made me consider how we are perceived based on where we live. I feel like I now have to prove to people that I’m not the typical “Coles Crossing Mom.” Until recently, I never knew that was a bad thing. Maybe I’m pondering these things because I’m still trying to build an identity in this place we now call home. I guess so far I’m the Coles Crossing Soccer Mom who had to jerk her child out of a game for kicking kids in the shin.

“Your flashes are distracting the cupstackers.”

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 21:24:33 -0600

We still feel fairly new to the Texas thing. We are very obviously new to the sport that is overtaking elementary schools across our new state. Maybe it’s because the World Record Holder attends Jack’s school or maybe it’s because his friend Grey decided to join the team, but whatever the reason, cupstacking has become a part of our lives through Jack and it culminated today with the regional tournament at the Berry Center. Have you come to Houston to visit us? If you have, then we showed you the High School football stadium that is larger than any arena in your area. This is where we set off to this morning at 8:30am. After a week of team relay drama, crying and calls to the coach, it’s finally here. The babysitter arrived (no need to complicate matters and tote Kate and Riley along), we packed our snacks, cups, cameras and water. We made our way through this crazy traffic to get money from the ATM and followed the other minivans and SUV’s to the sacred site. Jack doesn’t immediately jump out of the van because he is counting his cups. I thought, “No way, we packed all of them. I saw him.” Well.....no champaign. Only 7 cups made the trek. You need 12. Jack’s only response to us asking why he forgot 5 cups: “Emily Fox does not use yellow cups!” What the February??????? Is that a code?
Moving on, we get Jack settled with his team, watched him do the necessary stretching exercises, and go to the spectator area on the 2nd floor. While waiting for Jack to be judged, a very loud and boisterous family stands right next to Crull and kind of pushes their way in (you know the type). They then start yelling to someone on the floor just below. I’m not really paying attention because I’m getting my camera ready for the big moment. At this point the announcer says the following, “Spectators please turn off the flash on your cameras. Your flashes are distracting the cupstackers.” The next thing I know a large and heavy backpack is thrown from the floor up to the stands and smacks me on the head, and the loud family promptly grabs it. I think I heard a measly, “Are you ok?” The only thing I could think to say was, “I can’t believe you just did that.” At least they moved away from us. Why do things always fall on my head in public places? So if hundreds of kids cupstacking all at once was not enough to give me a headache, the backpack definitely was.
Jack made one of his best times ever, Crull sold all things cupstacking for 3 hours and got to wear a cool apron, and I left the Berry Center very thankful that Jack did not end up on a relay team!

Things that make me nervous Part 2

Fri, 1 Feb 2008 10:46:08 -0600

Do you remember my first post about Things that make me nervous? Well, she’s back. And she called me on my cell phone and asked to speak to Jack C. I so wanted to have a prepared statement when girls started calling my son. It will eventually go something like this... “I’m sorry. Jack can’t take phone calls from girls, but I’ll be sure to tell him you called.” Sounds simple, but I obviously was not ready for it at McAlister’s on a Sunday afternoon when my son was 5 years old!

Riley doing better!

Fri, 1 Feb 2008 10:26:54 -0600

Thank you to all of you who prayed for Riley while we were in the hospital with pneumonia. It was a little scary watching a little one struggle to breathe, but we are so grateful that she is home and doing much better. Here’s the latest picture of our 7 month old!

Juno

Mon, 7 Jan 2008 12:51:08 -0600

I’m not starting off the year with pictures of the kids at Christmas. I haven’t even looked at them on my camera yet. I’m starting off with one of the best movies I’ve seen in quite a while. If you’ll notice, I’ve never blogged about a movie before. So that should say something, maybe. To be honest, I first wanted to see Juno because of Jason Bateman. I’ve had a crush on him since age 12 and really want his acting career to go beyond Silver Spoons and the cancelled-too-soon Arrested Development. But as I read more about Juno, I soon realized that I would probably actually like the movie itself. And yes, it turned out to be just as quirky, quit-witted and funny as promised. Juno is very well written, but the casting director and actors deserve the real awards here. Do yourself a favor and go see it. Disclaimer: subject matter is teen pregnancy so if you are going to be upset about finding humor in that situation...skip it.
Disclaimer #2: if you have a young daughter you WILL project yourself as a parent in this situation.
Disclaimer #3: fans of Arrested Development be warned - although Jason Bateman and Michael Cera are both in this film, they have no scenes together. They are very independently funny, though.

Merry Christmas

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:03:12 -0600

No real reason for this post except that I love the smile, bubbles and drool in this picture. This is the only time in her life when bubbles and drool will be cute, so you might as well go for it!

Jack Accepts Christ!

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 19:24:34 -0600

What a day of Thanksgiving! We had a great day today with our friends The Shackelfords for Thanksgiving. This evening while eating leftovers Jack asked where we were going to be for Easter which started a discussion about the first Easter. He continued to ask questions and then stated that he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. We sat down and shared scripture with him, asked him even more questions and finally he said, “Can we go ahead and pray??” This is the best Thanksgiving ever!
Leave Jack a message below!

Friday Night Lights

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 21:33:12 -0600

I’ve been considering this blog entry for a couple of weeks now. It came about because Crull asked a question and forced me to answer it. We had just finished watching one of the shows that has that unspoken rule: “Don’t watch it without me!” We commented on how amazing this show is and he asked me, “So what’s your favorite tv show? And you can’t say ‘I don’t know.’” I ran through all my favorite ones in my head, couldn’t pick a favorite and he kept pushing.
We started an elimination round in which there are no DVRs, VCRs, tv rentals at blockbuster....if two shows come on at the same time, which one would you choose? We kept going and going and I realized something. My favorite TV show is Friday Night Lights. Those of you who know me well would say, “What?! Not LOST, not 24, not Survivor? What about The Office??” I love all of those, but let me submit to you that the best show on television right now airs on Friday nights at 8pm. The writing, the casting, the acting, the storylines, and the music...it’s truly incredible! I don’t recommend shows lightly and I watch several that I wouldn’t recommend (America’s Next Top Model) but take my word for it on this one. Give it a try, get into the storyline, get to know the characters, rent the first season. You won’t regret it.
Here are some quotes and links to reviews:
“Lord, is “Friday Night Lights” good”
“So what do I think of Friday Night Lights? I think it’s fanfreakingtastic!! Honestly, it’s so much better than I expected it to be. Again, I had heard the critical praise, but I just wasn’t sure it could live up to the hype. Well it does. The characters, the storylines, the actors - just wonderful.”
“Not since Freaks and Geeks has NBC run a series as great and as pitifully underwatched as Friday Night Lights.”
“It's been a great non-fiction book, it's been a well-received movie. How good could the TV version be? How about great, one of the best new shows of the season? Kyle Chandler stands out as the coach the whole town's putting pressure on, but there's not a false move in this show, the biggest and most pleasant surprise of the season. Do not miss.”
I could go on and on and on... really. I think you get my point.
Fridays at 8 PM CST on NBC.

Jack’s table status

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 16:31:14 -0600

As some of you know, Jack announced early in his kindergarten year that he had been moved to the “loser table.” Well, things have changed around again and he is now at a new table where he is the captain! (we’re so proud) He didn’t know all that was entailed in being a captain but we’ll keep you posted. And those teeth missing in the photo, he swallowed both of them.

Jack’s First Day of School

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:31:04 -0500

The journey begins...click the box to the left to view our footage.